Charismatic movie star Reynolds dies at 82
Burt Reynolds won acclaim for roles in “Deliverance” and “Boogie Nights” and enjoyed commercial hits such as “Smokey and the Bandit.” He also was known for an active off-screen love life with Dinah Shore, Loni Anderson and Sally Field.
Burt Reynolds, the handsome film and television star known for his acclaimed performances in “Deliverance” and “Boogie Nights,” commercial hits such as “Smokey and the Bandit” and for an active off-screen love life that included relationships with Loni Anderson and Sally Field, has died at age 82.
His death was confirmed Thursday by his agent, Todd Eisner, who did not immediately have further details. TMZ reported he died of a heart attack.
The mustachioed, smirking Reynolds inspired a wide range of responses over his long, erratic career: critical acclaim and critical scorn, popular success and box-office bombs. Reynolds made scores of movies, ranging from lightweight fare such as the hits “The Cannonball Run” and “Smokey and the Bandit” to more serious films like “The Longest Yard” and “The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing.”
He received some of the film world’s highest honors. He was nominated for an Oscar for “Boogie Nights,” the Paul Thomas Anderson film about the pornography industry, and won an Emmy for the TV series “Evening Shade.” A life of hits and misses
His personal life provided ongoing drama, particularly after an acrimonious divorce from Anderson in 1995. He had a troubled marriage to Judy Carne, a romance with Dinah Shore and a relationship with Field damaged by his acknowledged jealousy of her success.
Through it all he presented a genial persona, often the first to make fun of his own conflicted image.
“My career is not like a regular chart; mine looks like a heart attack,” he told the Associated Press in 2001. “I’ve done over 100 films, and I’m the only actor who has been canned by all three networks. I epitomize longevity.”
Reynolds was candid about his flops, his regrets and about his many famous friends. He would call posing nude for Cosmopolitan one of his biggest mistakes because it undermined the respect he had gained for “Deliverance.” He revered Spencer Tracy as an early mentor and came to know Johnny Carson, Clint Eastwood, Frank Sinatra and many others.
“There are times in your life that are so indelible, they never fade away. They stay alive, even forty years later. My years with Burt never leave my mind. He will be in my history and my heart, for as long as I live. Rest, Buddy,” Field said in a statement released to the Associated Press. Reynolds went by Buddy in his early years.
Born in Lansing, Mich., and raised in Florida, he was an all-Southern Conference running back at Florida State University in the 1950s. Reynolds appeared headed to the NFL until a knee injury and an automobile accident ended his chances. He dropped out of college and drifted to New York, where he worked as a dockhand, dance-hall bouncer, bodyguard and dish washer before returning to Florida in 1957 and enrolling in acting classes at Palm Beach Junior College.
In the 1960s, he made dozens of appearances on such TV shows as “Bonanza,” “The Twilight Zone” and “Perry Mason.” His first film role came in 1961’s “Angel Baby,” and he followed it with numerous other mediocre movies, the kind, he liked to joke, that were shown in airplanes and prisons.
He did become famous enough to make frequent appearances on “The Tonight Show,” leading to his most cherished film role and to his greatest folly. In the early 1970s, director John Boorman was impressed by how confidently Reynolds handled himself when subbing for Carson as host of “The Tonight Show.” Boorman thought he might be right for a film adaptation of James Dickey’s novel “Deliverance.”
“Deliverance” was an Oscar nominee for best picture, and no film made him prouder. In his 2015 memoir “But Enough About Me,” he wrote that “Deliverance” would be his choice could he put one of his movies in a time capsule.
“It proved I could act,” he wrote. But soon after filming was completed, he made a decision he never stopped regretting. While appearing on “The Tonight Show” with Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown, he agreed to her invitation to be the magazine’s first male centerfold. The centerfold would appear on T-shirts, panties and other merchandise, and Reynolds began receiving obscene fan mail. Reynolds’ performance in “Deliverance” was snubbed by the movie academy.
He did remain an A-list movie star, starring in such films as “Shamus,” “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” and three popular “Smokey and the Bandit” comedies, with co-stars including Field and Jackie Gleason. Divorce made tabloid fodder
He married Anderson in 1988. The actress, one of the stars of the sitcom “WKRP in Cincinnati,” had met him on a talk show.
The couple divorced in 1995, and their breakup was an embarrassing public spectacle, with the pair exchanging insults in print interviews and on television shows. Reynolds finally paid her a $2 million settlement and a vacation home to settle the divorce.
His portrayal of porn movie impresario Jack Horner in Anderson’s “Boogie Nights” brought him some of his best reviews.
He won a Golden Globe for best supporting actor and received an Oscar nomination. He was devastated when the Oscar went to Robin Williams for “Good Will Hunting.”
“I once said that I’d rather have a Heisman Trophy than an Oscar,” he wrote in his memoir. “I lied.”
He is survived by his son, Quinton.